


we’ll still be dancing till the end of time

by andthentheybow



Series: gift works [3]
Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Arranged Marriage, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Fluff, Getting Together, Hate at First Sight, M/M, but like by the time they get to that point they actually like each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-19 04:00:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29620260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andthentheybow/pseuds/andthentheybow
Summary: Dream and George absolutely detest each other. It really, really doesn’t help that their two kingdoms are extremely close allies, or that everyone around them is apparently expecting them to fall in love.
Relationships: Cara | CaptainPuffy & Clay | Dream, Clay | Dream & GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Eret & GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), GeorgeNotFound & Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF)
Series: gift works [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2170890
Comments: 43
Kudos: 374





	we’ll still be dancing till the end of time

**Author's Note:**

  * For [evakt](https://archiveofourown.org/users/evakt/gifts).



> don't be creepy about content creators, these are my interpretations of their personas, if they're uncomfortable this will be deleted, etc etc
> 
> the prompt for this was enemies to lovers royalty au and i had so much fun with it!!! ty eve i love you more than words can describe /p
> 
> title from 'i want to kiss you' by the spook school

The first time George meets Dream, they’re both twelve years old and they hate each other instantly. It’s like the opposite of love at first sight: they look each other in the eyes and decide that  _ yes, I am going to hate you until the end of my days, and I know the feeling is mutual. _

They’re forced to talk to each other by their parents. George’s mother and Dream’s father usher them toward each other in the L’Manberg palace, then disappear in a different direction to talk politics. There’s a boy with a sword behind Dream that doesn’t look much older than ten. George glances to the back corner of the room; his knight Eret flashes him a thumbs-up.

“We’re not going to be friends,” Dream announces. “I think I hate you.”

  
“It’s reciprocated,” George replies, and that’s the most they talk to each other the first time they meet.

The second time George meets Dream, they’re both thirteen and celebrating the coronation of Dream’s older sister Puffy. Dream’s father has stepped down from the throne, so luckily there isn’t a funeral to attend beforehand. Instead, it’s one giant party.

George hates parties.

He and his brothers are forced into attending. None of them particularly wanted to go, but now that they’re here, it seems that George is the only miserable one. Phil, the eldest of their family, is tapping his foot impatiently and occasionally muttering to his knight Technoblade, his eyes on a lady off in another corner of the room. Wilbur is on the dance floor, twirling around a beautiful woman with red hair. Tommy, the little monster, is running around the dance floor with Dream’s younger brother Tubbo.

George is standing by the snack table, Eret slightly behind him. He has to admit, the SMP royal family has excellent food.

“Do you like the chocolates?” an unfamiliar voice asks stiffly. George turns and sees Dream in a suit that seems just a tad too big for his shoulders. Dream’s got a look on his face that clearly says he doesn’t want to be talking to George.

“Yes,” George replies when Eret nudges him, equally as stiffly. “Congratulations on your sister’s coronation.”

“Thanks,” Dream mutters. “Better her than me.”

George snorts in agreement- he’s the third child, there’s no way he’s getting the throne, and all the better for it. He’d much rather spend his time studying and riding and having fun than arguing with Parliament and being the figurehead for a nation.

“What’s that for, then?” Dream asks. “You don’t want to be king?”

“Not at all,” George chirps easily, reaching for another chocolate.

“Yeah, you’d make a shit king,” Dream says with a nod. George glances over and there’s something in Dream’s eyes that looks like a challenge.

“No worse than your father,” George mutters. He’s heard all the talk about the former King Schlatt and his problems with drinking. Dream’s eyes darken.

“What did you just say about my father?” he demands. And- oh, are they going to fight? Right here? Alright, then-

“He’s an alcoholic, isn’t he?” George asks, keeping his tone polite, like he has no idea what he’s doing. If Dream wants to play enemies, then they’ll play enemies. “That’s why they kicked him off the throne?”

He isn’t expecting Dream to lunge at him. Eret steps forward and catches him before he can actually tackle George, and Dream walks off with a glare. Eret turns back.

“That was close,” he says. George rolls his eyes.

“I can handle myself.”

Looking around the room, it seems that no one except maybe Wilbur noticed the little fight. It could hardly be called a fight, really, but Wilbur’s got that smile on his face that says he knows something. George sneers at him.

He doesn’t see Dream for the rest of the night.

“So, George,” their mother says at dinner the next night. “What’s this I hear about you getting into a spat with Prince Dream?”

“Where’d you hear that from?” George asks, gripping his fork and glaring at Wilbur. Wilbur feigns innocence.

“Your brother,” the queen replies, and Wilbur casts a betrayed look at her. “Do well to not start fights with anyone from the SMP Kingdom, alright? We’re on good terms with them and I’d like to keep it that way.”

George mumbles something to the affirmative. The next day, Dream is in their entrance hall, looking immensely out of place.

  
“What the hell are you doing here?” George demands, running down the stairs and skidding to a stop. He was chasing after Wilbur, who’d taken his favorite pair of shoes, and now there’s no way he’s getting them back.

“Tubbo’s hanging out with your gremlin brother,” Dream replies easily, shifting his stance to something more prince-ly. “Didn’t know you swore.”

“Fuck shit fuck,” George spits out. “Why are  _ you _ here, then?”

“Puffy’s talking with your mom. You’re supposed to take me riding, or something.”

George takes Dream to the stables, gives him a horse, and tells him to have fun. Dream refuses to go anywhere if George isn’t riding with him, so George reluctantly mounts his horse and takes Dream around the L’Manberg castle grounds.

For the next three years, once a week, Tommy and Tubbo will hang out together and George will be forced to ride with Dream. He memorizes the SMP palace’s grounds in that time, and he’s sure Dream memorizes L’Manberg’s. Most of the time they ride in silence, and they do  _ not _ become friends.

They’re sixteen when they next actually hold a conversation. It’s the funeral for George’s mother. George holds a steady face throughout, Wilbur on one side and Tommy on the other. At the gathering afterward, while most everyone is surrounding Phil, Dream comes to rest at George’s side.

“I’m sorry,” he says solemnly.

George doesn’t respond.

They see each other again a few days later at Phil’s joint coronation-wedding. Phil and his new wife, who’s the nicest woman that George has ever met, are at the center of the room, beaming, completely wrapped up in each other. Wilbur is dancing with the pretty red-head again, the same one he’s danced with at every ball, whose name he’s refused to tell anyone. Tommy and Tubbo are causing chaos somewhere, and George is standing in one corner of the room, talking to Eret quietly.

Dream approaches with his knight, Sapnap, behind him. George has no idea how Sapnap became a knight, considering he’s two years younger than the two of them. Alright, so maybe Dream and George have talked a little over the course of their three years riding together. He’s dressed in gold and George thinks it brings out his eyes. Then he questions where the hell that thought came from.

“Some party,” Dream says, nodding. He’s got a glass of something that he’s definitely too young to have. George snorts and holds out a hand. Dream grins and passes him the glass.   
  
“George,” Eret starts, and George looks his knight dead in the eyes as he drains the glass. Dream laughs, a loud, wheezing sound that’s vaguely concerning.

“Eret, do something with this, please?” George asks politely, holding out the glass. Eret gives him a smirk and takes the glass. Sapnap pretends to not be paying attention. “Listen, Dream. Don’t think this changes anything between us. I still hate you.”

“The feeling is mutual,” Dream says, and George has to fight the urge to smile. They don’t talk again for the rest of the evening.

And for the next few months, George can’t stop thinking about Dream. It’s pathetic, really, and he has no idea what’s going on, but he sees Dream in little things all around him and then he thinks about the other prince all day.

“Eret, what the hell is happening?” he groans after complaining about it to his best friend. He’s laying on his bed, tossing a pillow in the air.

“Sounds like you have a crush,” Eret says, not looking up from his book.

“A  _ what?” _ George demands. The pillow falls flat on his face.

That makes him think about it even more. The next time he sees Dream, he can barely look at the prince without his face getting red.

The next formal event they’re at together is Puffy’s wedding. Wilbur is part of the bridal party, serving as best man to Puffy’s fiancee, his best friend Niki. That just means that their entire family has to stay at the SMP palace for a week in order to be there for rehearsals and so Wilbur can help with planning.

George and Dream change their weekly rides to daily rides. This time, they actually talk. George learns that Dream loves swordfighting and parkour, and that he’s actually pretty decent at both. They spar a few times, and George wins once to Dream’s twice. George refuses to participate in parkour, but he cheers Dream on while he completes the palace’s course in record time.

But it’s not like they’re becoming friends, or anything, they still hate each other. They fight more often than they get along. Not to mention that George absolutely detests Sapnap, completely hates the kid, no way in hell he’s becoming friends with  _ either  _ of them.

They dance at the wedding reception. They’re standing in one corner, not taking part in the festivities, and then Sapnap nudges Dream subtly and Dream holds out a hand to George.

“May I have this dance?” he asks, semi-sarcastically, and George takes his hand and lets him twirl them around the dance floor.

They continue seeing each other once a week for the next two years. They aren’t becoming friends. They  _ aren’t _ becoming friends. George doesn’t have a crush, and they  _ aren’t _ becoming friends.

Which is why he’s so upset when Phil proposes that he and Dream get married.

“What,” George says flatly. They’re having dinner. Wilbur just choked on his food. Tommy’s eyes are wide.

“It’ll finally secure the alliance between our two kingdoms,” Phil says. “When our mother and King Schlatt first introduced the two of you, it was with hopes that one day the two of you-”

“So you’re saying this whole thing is all of you manipulating me into marrying Dream?” George demands. “Tommy and Tubbo only got to be friends so that Dream and I would get closer?”

“What?” Tommy cries.

“George,” Phil says patiently. “I’m not saying it has to happen. I know you two are close-”

“We  _ hate _ each other!” George says insistently. He’s on his feet; Phil just looks tired.

“George, you’re eighteen now,” Phil says. “You know that it’s my duty as an older brother, and as a  _ king _ , to be seeking arrangements for you-”

“What about Wilbur, huh?” George demands. “I don’t see him-”

“Wilbur has talked to me about extenuating circumstances.” Phil’s voice is patient, and George feels bad for yelling, but he just feels  _ betrayed _ . “If you don’t want to marry Dream because you love someone else, I’ll respect that-”

“I don’t  _ love someone else _ -”

“-but I was under the impression that you and Dream were a thing. For lack of better words.”

George goes silent. He and Phil stare each other down. Across the room, Eret is giving George a purposeful look.

And George thinks- about the past two years, about how since since Puffy and Niki’s wedding he and Dream have actually talked when they get together, about how they’ve learned about each other, they’ve joked together, and sometimes their hands brush and Dream’s face gets red and maybe, just maybe, marrying Dream for the benefit of their two kingdoms wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

He sits down.

“If Dream were to court me,” he says, as formally as he can. “I suppose that I wouldn’t. Have any objections. To that.”

He can feel Tommy and Wilbur both staring at him, but he keeps his eyes on Phil.

“Good,” Phil says, nodding. “I’ll write to Puffy.”

Dream is standing in the entrance hall the next day. George, walking past, comes to a stop. Dream is holding a bouquet of blue and yellow flowers.

  
“What’s this?” George asks.

“You mentioned being colorblind,” Dream says blankly, holding out the bouquet. “So I just picked the colors you can see.”

George takes the flowers. Dream holds out his arm, and George raises an eyebrow.

“I’m courting you,” Dream says. “You told your brother you wouldn’t have objections to me courting you. So I’m courting you.”

“You mean-” George starts, and he takes Dream’s arm and tries to ignore the way his heart flutters. “You  _ wanted _ to court me? Your sister isn’t making you do this?”

“No,” Dream snorts. “I mean, she suggested it, but- yeah. I wanted to court you.”

“Oh,” George says, allowing the smile to creep across his face.

They keep riding together. They spar together. They go on dates around both kingdoms and they laugh and George’s heart has never felt more full. Every time Dream laughs it feels like the greatest musicians are playing just for him, every time Dream smiles it’s the greatest gift he could ever receive. Alright, so maybe Eret was right, maybe he does have a little bit of a crush. 

Eret and Sapnap are always there as chaperones, supervision and protection. It’s not like they need it- Dream nearly beats Technoblade in a duel, and Technoblade is notoriously the best fighter in the land.

“So,” Dream says. They’re nineteen and it’s been a year and it’s been the best year of George’s life. They’re standing on a balcony in the L’Manberg castle and they’re watching the stars. Dream has his hands on George’s hips and he leans down slightly. “When am I allowed to kiss you?”

And George gives him the sweetest grin he’s ever given and says, “When you marry me.” Just as a joke. Just because he wants to keep Dream on his toes.

“Marry me, then,” Dream says, in barely more than a whisper, his lips dangerously close.

“Right now?” George asks, and his heart is beating faster and faster and Dream’s head is dipping lower.

“Yeah,” he breathes out, and George slips his hands around Dream’s neck and pulls his lips down the rest of the way.

They don’t marry. Of course they don’t marry- they’re nineteen years old and they both have other things on their minds, like studying and swordfighting and maybe kissing each other every now and then. They keep seeing each other once a week and when Phil asks how it’s going, George just beams.

For the next two years, they continue courting, and Dream asks about marriage in every place imaginable. While they’re out riding, while they’re sparring, while they’re studying, while they’re walking through the halls. Sometimes it’s a joke, sometimes Dream seems more serious. Every time George laughs and presses a kiss to Dream’s lips and murmurs, “Not yet.”

“Then when?” Dream asks, every time, and every time George laughs and kisses him again.

He doesn’t know why he keeps putting it off. Maybe because he’s afraid of something. Maybe because it’s still odd to him to think that when he and Dream first met, they practically vowed to hate each other, and now he’s certain that he loves Dream more than anything in the world.

He finally says yes on a day similar to the day they first met. Puffy and Phil are meeting to discuss some politics, and George sees Dream from across the room. Sapnap is behind him and they’re laughing about something, and George turns back and Eret flashes him a thumbs-up.

And George and Dream make eye contact and George thinks  _ yes, I am going to love you until the end of my days, and I know the feeling is mutual. _ So when Dream picks him up and spins him around and leans down, George says, “Yes. I’ll marry you.”

**Author's Note:**

> [ twitter](https://www.twitter.com/andthentheybow)
> 
> comments/kudos/etc are always appreciated!


End file.
